Anisur Rahman Zico ( bn, আনিসুর রহমান জিকো) is a Bangladeshi professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for

Bangladesh Premier League The Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) ( bn, বাংলাদেশ প্রিমিয়ার লীগ) is a professional Twenty20 cricket league consisting of seven franchises. The BPL is one of the three professional cricket leagues in ...

club

Bashundhara Kings Bashundhara Kings ( bn, বসুন্ধরা কিংস) is a professional football team based in Bashundhara Residential Area, Dhaka, Bangladesh. They clinched the title of the 2017 Bangladesh Championship League, the second tier of th ...

and the Bangladesh national team. He is considered to be a penalty specialist and is also one of the best goalkeepers in the country. He is nicknamed "Banglar Bajpakhi" (

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

: বাংলার বাজপাখি) which translates to "The Hawk/Falcon of Bangla" in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Club career

On 14 December 2018, Zico's performance in the shootout in Walton Independence Cup helped

edge a spirited

Rahmatganj MFS Rahmatganj Muslim Friends Society is a sports club of Bangladesh based in Old Dhaka. It was founded in 1933. It is currently playing in the Bangladesh Premier League. It was also a team of Bangladesh Championship League until it got promotion in ...

3–2 in the quarter-final tiebreaker. On 20 December 2018, Zico's performance propelled Kings to the Independence Cup final with a 7–6 win on penalties over Abahani Limited Dhaka. He also got limelight in the

2020 AFC Cup The 2020 AFC Cup was the 17th edition of the AFC Cup, Asia's secondary club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The competition was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic after group stage matches on 11 March ...

where he played crucial role for his team, including three penalty saves which helped Kings win 5–1 against

TC Sports Club Trust and Care Sports Club (commonly known as TC Sports Club) is a Maldivian professional football club based in Malé. They have qualified for the Dhivehi League for the first time, after crowning the 2014 Second Division Football Tournament a ...

. He was later named in the ''AFC Top Performer of the Week''.

International career

On 13 November 2020, Zico made his senior debut against

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

in an international friendly. On 4 December 2020, Zico performed well against reigning Asian champions

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

2022 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC second round The AFC second round of 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification, which also served as the second round of 2023 AFC Asian Cup qualification, was played from 5 September 2019 to 15 June 2021. Format A total of forty teams were drawn into eight group ...

. His "heroic" performance gained him popularity among the local fans and also got him offers from MLS and

Saudi Pro League The Saudi Pro League (SPL for short) ( ar, دوري المحترفين السعودي, link=no, ''Dawriyy al-Muḥtarifayni as-Suʿūdī''), known as the Roshn Saudi League (RSL for short) for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of associat ...

clubs. He received the Best Goalkeeper Award in the

2023 SAFF Championship The 2023 SAFF Championship will be the 14th edition of the SAFF Championship which is likely to be held in 2023. Host selection Bids Football Sri Lanka initially expressed their interest to bid for hosting the tournament, at the SAFF Executive C ...

, even after Bangladesh crashed out of the semi-finals of the tournament.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Bashundhara Kings *

: 2018–19,

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, 2021–22,

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

Bangladesh Federation Cup Federation Cup, also known as Bangladesh Federation Cup, is Bangladesh's premier cup competition in men's association football. The competition started in 1980 and is run by the Bangladesh Football Federation which is responsible for all types of ...

: 2019–20,

* Independence Cup: 2018–19,

Individual *

− '' BPL Goalkeeper of the Season.'' *

2023 Events Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ** Croatia will adopt the eu ...

– ''

SAFF Championship The South Asian Football Federation Championship, commonly known as SAFF Championship (previously known as ''South Asian Association of Regional Co-operation Gold Cup'' and ''South Asian Football Federation Gold Cup''), is the main international ...

Best Goalkeeper Award.'' *2020 – '' AFC Top Performer of the Week.'' *2021 − ''Sports Journalist Community Best Player Award.''

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zico, Anisur Rahman 1997 births Living people Bangladeshi men's footballers Bangladesh men's international footballers Bangladesh men's youth international footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Bashundhara Kings players Saif Sporting Club players Muktijoddha Sangsad KC players Farashganj SC players Chittagong Abahani Limited players Footballers at the 2018 Asian Games Asian Games competitors for Bangladesh People from Cox's Bazar District Bangladesh Premier League footballers Sportspeople from Chittagong Division